The 1945 New Zealand census was held on 25 September. Total population figures for cities, boroughs and counties are included in the 1946 Year Book. It was published in ten volumes, giving information such as population movement, density, housing, jobs, distance from public transport, country of birth, race and religion. Total population, including forces still abroad, was 1,747,679, and was quite unevenly distributed, as shown in this table, which in the printed document is illustrated with maps of both main islands - Usually, a census is held in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

every five years. However, due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the 1941 census was postponed through section 36 of the ''Finance Act, 1940'', which authorised the census due in 1941 to be taken between 1942 and 1945 (inclusive). The last completed census had been held in 1936, i.e. nine years earlier. As

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was in charge of the Census and Statistics Department and in 1943, he commented that there was little hope for the census to be taken while the war was still going. In early April 1945, it became known that the government had plans to hold the census later that year and on 11 April 1945, acting

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confirmed that it would take place during the coming September. One objective with the 1945 date was to be able to redefine electorate boundaries just prior to the 1946 general election. Bringing the census forward affected the census data. With World War II continuing until September 1945, with thousands of young men still overseas and the economy still geared to wartime conditions. There was lobbying from conservative circles, for example the

Auckland Chamber of Commerce Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It ...

, the Otago-Southland Manufacturers' Association, and the New Zealand Farmers' Federation, for the census to be held in 1946 as originally scheduled. In an editorial, ''

The New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'' also argued for adherence to the normal schedule, for example to make it easier for statisticians to provide timeline data (the census had been held every five years since

1851 Events January–March * January 11 – Hong Xiuquan officially begins the Taiping Rebellion. * January 15 – Christian Female College, modern-day Columbia College, receives its charter from the Missouri General Assembly. ...

). Census returns were released as they became known, on a city, borough, town district, or county basis. The first preliminary results were those issued for Havelock Town District, which appeared in newspapers on 3 October 1945. The results from the census were an input to the 1946 electoral redistribution. As the government had, in a surprise move, abolished the country quota through the ''Electoral Amendment Act, 1945'', the redistribution changed the boundaries of every electorate prior to the 1946 general election.

Notes

References

* {{New Zealand census Censuses in New Zealand

Census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

September 1945 events in New Zealand